Cable Industry Needs Spectrum to Meet Wireless Demand, Say Observers

With the FCC about to transition to a new chairman and all proceedings on hold for the government shutdown, it’s hard to know if cable industry efforts to free up unlicensed spectrum for Wi-Fi will be successful, said several communications attorneys and industry observers in interviews. Cable needs unlicensed spectrum to bridge the gap between consumer demand for mobile broadband and the available wireless spectrum, said New America Foundation Wireless Future Project Director Michael Calabrese in a report sponsored by Time Warner Cable released last week (CD Oct 10 p14). “There’s no possible way the industry can meet consumer demand for movable data at affordable prices using only licensed spectrum,” he told us. “We need to have a second path.”

As streaming video and other high data uses for mobile broadband become more popular, it becomes more important for wireless providers to be able to offload users onto Wi-Fi, said Calabrese. Cable is working to provide that Wi-Fi, with Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision and Bright House Networks joining forces to roll out Wi-Fi hotspots across the nation, but Calabrese said the FCC needs to free up more unlicensed spectrum to meet the demand. “Wi-Fi now carries more Internet traffic to consumers’ smartphones, tablets, laptops and PCs than licensed wireless and wired connections combined,” said a blog post by NCTA (http://bit.ly/1fDi90K). Calabrese said that “if sufficient unlicensed spectrum is available, an increasing share of mobile device traffic will be transmitted just a very short distance, at low power, over shared public spectrum, and into a wireline connection that is either the end user’s or part of an offload network managed by a [cable company] or wireless ISP."

Several cable attorneys said the difficulty of gathering information during the government shutdown -- along with the fact that chairman nominee Tom Wheeler hasn’t expressed an opinion on freeing up unlicensed spectrum -- makes it difficult to speculate on how the FCC will act on the three open proceedings that involve freeing up unlicensed spectrum: The 600 MHz band plan, an NPRM on sharing the 3.5 GHz band and the open proceeding on the 5 GHz band. However, they all said the commission seems to be generally in favor of increasing available unlicensed spectrum, and will likely support cable industry efforts to make it more ubiquitous. “There’s plenty of spectrum out there for everybody,” said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. “This is one place where PK and Comcast agree.” Comcast and CTIA did not comment.

In the 600 MHz band, there’s potential for the Wi-Fi to use “guard bands” that would be left unused by broadcasters after the incentive auction repacking. However, wireless companies have said the FCC should maximize the amount of spectrum up for bidding during the incentive auction (CD May 22 p4). That would likely lead to less space for unlicensed, said several cable attorneys and Feld. It’s also not clear what sort of band plan the FCC might end up with, said several communications attorneys. It’s “unlikely” the commission would treat cable’s need for unlicensed spectrum as a priority while drawing up the 600 MHz band plan, said a broadcast attorney, but that doesn’t mean some unlicensed spectrum won’t be made available in the repacking. However, the repacking will decrease the overall amount of TV white space available for other uses, said industry observers.

For the 3.5 GHz band, the FCC issued an NPRM on allowing unlicensed spectrum users to share the band with the fixed satellite and naval radar that currently use it (CD May 13 p6). To avoid interference, users would need technology that periodically checks their location with a “Spectrum Access System database” that would move them off the band if the government uses need it, said Calabrese in his report. He said the prospects of the FCC opening access to this band for Wi-Fi use are “bright.”

The commission is also likely to open the 5 GHz band for Wi-Fi, Calabrese said. The band is now used by some government users, mobile satellite provider Globalstar and by automobile manufacturers to allow self-driving cars to communicate with each other. Part of the spectrum proposed for Wi-Fi had previously been allocated by the FCC for use by automotive crash avoidance systems. Comcast and Time Warner Cable have been advocating for the band to be opened up, and the FCC released an NPRM on the matter in February, but the Auto Alliance and other car industry groups don’t want the FCC to do so. “New, high-powered unlicensed Wi-Fi devices operating in this same frequency band could interfere with the proper operation of connected vehicle technologies,” said an Auto Alliance spokesman in an email. A House Communications Subcommittee hearing on 5 GHz spectrum last week was canceled because of the federal government shutdown.

Time Warner Cable is “hopeful” the commission will lift restrictions on Wi-Fi in the 5 GHz band, said a TWC executive. A proposal in the 5 GHz NPRM to allow wider channels in the band could allow cable companies to provide 1 Gbps Wi-Fi if enough unlicensed spectrum is freed up, said Calabrese. “Trends in wireless technology suggest that higher-frequency and wider-channel bands will be increasingly useful as both complements and substitutes for the more spectrum-scarce licensed carrier networks,” said Calabrese’s report.

The FCC should free up the spectrum for Wi-Fi in all three proceedings, said Calabrese. A cable attorney said the FCC is likely to address the proceedings in steps, tackling the least controversial portions first. “The commission is likely to encourage unlicensed spectrum around the edges,” said another cable attorney. “Unleashing an abundance of spectrum and driving down its cost as an input for all things mobile is therefore the single best means by which the Federal government can promote innovation and consumer welfare in wireless,” said Calabrese’s report.